1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:06,160 Before I really get started in the sermon, I want to let you 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:08,640 know that it's going to be a little bit different today. 3 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:17,640 Normally when I'm preparing sermons, I, I, I, I preach from 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,560 an outline, much of which is some of which anyway is on the 5 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:26,720 slides. And and that's that's how 99.9% 6 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:30,880 of the time I I preach when I prepare, I get ideas, I get 7 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:36,000 topics, I get, you know, illustrations kind of that that 8 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:38,800 seem to make sense. Arrange them an outline. 9 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,920 Sometimes when I sit down to prepare, not very often, but 10 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:43,120 every once in awhile happened this week. 11 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:48,640 I sat down to start typing and working on an outline and just 12 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,000 everything came and I and I typed it all out. 13 00:00:52,280 --> 00:00:56,000 And so I'm preaching today largely from notes from a 14 00:00:56,000 --> 00:00:59,920 manuscript, which I don't do very often, but I just was not 15 00:00:59,920 --> 00:01:02,360 able to convert this into an outline. 16 00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:08,320 And so, so I feel like, OK, I just got to preach it as is. 17 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:11,440 So I'm going to stand back here so I can keep an eye on my notes 18 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,760 because I'm going to be using them much more than I ordinary 19 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:22,200 probably do. The statement don't be afraid of 20 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:24,640 the dark. I have a very personal 21 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:28,680 connection with because it was the first horror movie I ever 22 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:33,640 saw and was not supposed to see. And I, I have this is such an 23 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,280 old memory from like when I was four or five years old somewhere 24 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,560 around in there that as I was thinking about this, I thought, 25 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:41,760 you know, I wonder if that's even a real movie or did I just 26 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:44,400 imagine all of this? It's a real movie. 27 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,840 I went on IMDBI found I had the title, right. 28 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:51,320 I had the the the nature of the movie right. 29 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:53,840 And it was actually a made for TV horror movie. 30 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,600 I think it was first aired somewhere in the early 70s, 31 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,880 which is that fits my memory as my age as well. 32 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:03,880 But any rate, I wanted to stay up and watch the movie with mom 33 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,840 and dad. Mom and dad said, no, you need 34 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:10,039 to go to bed. This movie is too scary for you. 35 00:02:10,039 --> 00:02:12,400 It's like, I want to watch the movie, go to bed. 36 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:16,600 So I went to bed and then I snuck back down because, you 37 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,480 know, their backs were to the doorway into the TV room, family 38 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:24,160 room, whatever it was. And and I was able to peek 39 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:28,320 around the corner and around the edge of the couch and watch the 40 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,520 movie. Don't be afraid of the dark. 41 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:34,720 The title is a lie, and the movie is all about good reasons 42 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:38,280 to be afraid of the dark. And as soon as the little furry 43 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:41,400 creatures crawled out from the cupboard under the steps and 44 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:45,120 started terrorizing the family, I learned that my parents were, 45 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:49,080 in fact, wiser and smarter than I am, and I went back to bed. 46 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:52,520 I'm going to go get my coffee so I can have a drink as we go here 47 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:58,200 as well. The movie, as I said, was a lie. 48 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,640 They were trying to convince me to be afraid of the dark, and 49 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:07,080 they succeeded. I never liked horror movies 50 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:09,600 after that. That kind of did it for me in 51 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:14,400 horror movies. But part of the reality of our 52 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:20,000 life and living a life of faith is how do we live a life of 53 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:25,960 faith in the darkness? Abram, in the portion of Genesis 54 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:30,840 that John read this morning, was entering into a very common and 55 00:03:30,840 --> 00:03:35,240 very human predicament, the dreadful challenge of trusting 56 00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:39,440 God when we can't see. And this is the nature of living 57 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:45,840 by faith, following and obeying one that we can't see to a place 58 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:50,200 where we've never been in the company of friends, sometimes, 59 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:55,200 strangers, other times, and it's still other times utterly alone 60 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:01,680 and who also cannot see. Abraham was entering what I 61 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,680 believe Saint John of the Cross would have called a dark night 62 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:07,960 of the soul. I don't know if you've heard 63 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:11,400 that phrase before. Saint John of the Cross is not 64 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:13,680 the Saint John who wrote the Gospel of John. 65 00:04:14,240 --> 00:04:17,160 He lived much later. He lived and wrote during the 66 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:24,560 1500s and he talked about the dark night of the soul, and he 67 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:28,440 described the dark night of the soul as a period in which God 68 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:35,600 strips away from us our faith in anything that is not God. 69 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:43,560 Darkness is the rule of the dark night of the soul, when we 70 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:51,040 cannot see that there are two parts, as John described it, of 71 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:54,840 The Dark Knight, or two phases, or two different aspects of it. 72 00:04:54,840 --> 00:04:59,760 1 is what he called the Dark night of the senses, in which 73 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:05,600 all of those things that made us feel close to God, feel the 74 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:10,440 presence of God, feel the love of God, all of those things dry 75 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:12,600 up. You used to love your morning 76 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,640 prayer time and that quiet time you had with God, and it made 77 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:19,400 you feel so close to God, and now it feels like a wasteland. 78 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:23,200 It feels like nothing like a waste of time. 79 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,160 You used to love the feeling you got in worship, singing the 80 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:30,440 songs or hearing the message or gathering with friends and 81 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,600 family in that community and that singing and that music and 82 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:35,760 that. It made you feel so connected 83 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:37,760 with God and the Christian community. 84 00:05:37,840 --> 00:05:42,280 And now it just feels like a waste of time, Meaningless and 85 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:44,920 empty. You used to love the feeling 86 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:47,640 that you got from doing good things in the community, good 87 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:50,600 things in the church, serving in certain ways, blessing in 88 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,680 certain ways, serving and and caring in those other ways. 89 00:05:53,680 --> 00:06:00,880 And now it just feels like duty and there's no satisfaction and 90 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:05,440 there's no connection with God. It's just a pain. 91 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:12,240 The dark night of the senses and all of those things that made us 92 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:18,080 feel good about our faith and feel connected with God dry up 93 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:25,640 and go away and no longer have any feeling or parent meaning to 94 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:30,200 them at all. And as challenging and difficult 95 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:33,400 and painful as the dark night of the senses is, it's nothing 96 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:38,480 compared to the dark night of the Spirit, in which all of 97 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:44,840 those things within us that told us God is real and God cares and 98 00:06:44,840 --> 00:06:52,640 God loves and God is there. All of that just evaporates or 99 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:59,480 disappears or gets covered up. And in the dark night of the 100 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:04,400 Spirit, we begin to wonder, is there even really a God at all, 101 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:10,680 much less a good God, A God that loves and a God that cares and a 102 00:07:10,680 --> 00:07:17,760 God that can? I believe Abraham Abram, in this 103 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,040 chapter 15 of Genesis, is entering into a period in his 104 00:07:22,040 --> 00:07:25,560 life that Saint John of the Cross would have called a dark 105 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:29,960 night of the soul. Abraham had been living with 106 00:07:29,960 --> 00:07:34,800 tremendous faith, doing amazing things that that were done 107 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,240 simply out of faith in, in his hometown in Iran and his home 108 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:41,600 country. And he he heard a voice in his 109 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,680 head that said leave it all, leave it behind. 110 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:49,080 Everything you know, your hometown, your home country, 111 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:52,520 your home region, your home people go take your wife, take 112 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:55,400 your household. You can take your nephew lot go. 113 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:57,560 And and I'm not even going to tell you where. 114 00:07:58,320 --> 00:07:59,800 I'll just let you know when you get there. 115 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:05,760 And Abram went, he went and he got there and we got to this 116 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,160 strange country of Canaan. And he looked around and God 117 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:09,880 said, this is it. Neighbor was like, all right, 118 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:12,080 all right. And he settled down there, sort 119 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:14,560 of settled down. They were nomads. 120 00:08:14,560 --> 00:08:18,520 They were in tents. They had no fixed residence and 121 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:23,040 they owned no land and no property, but they were allowed 122 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:25,120 to graze. But what a tremendous act of 123 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,040 faith. And then as they were grazing 124 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:31,520 their animals and they were prospering and their wealth was 125 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:35,120 growing, and his nephew Lot was doing well and Abram was doing 126 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,200 well, and suddenly there wasn't enough land. 127 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:43,080 And Abram took another great step of faith and he went to 128 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:45,440 Lot. And even though Lot was the 129 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:47,480 younger, he said the Lot. Lot, you choose. 130 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:49,920 You pick the land. I don't want any more fighting 131 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:51,480 between us. I don't want any fighting 132 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:52,840 between your people and my people. 133 00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:57,000 You, you pick the land you want. I'll take whatever's less left. 134 00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:00,880 And Lot took the better choice, the better land. 135 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,640 And as soon as Lot left, God said to Abram, hey, don't worry, 136 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:11,640 don't worry. The promise still stands. 137 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:15,080 You're going to have descendants as numerous as the stars in the 138 00:09:15,080 --> 00:09:17,640 sky above, the dust on the ground below. 139 00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:22,240 You will have all of this land. You'll have all of this land. 140 00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:30,840 And Abram believed. Abram took another great step of 141 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:36,000 faith when his nephew Lot, who moved in next to Sodom and 142 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:39,720 inherited Sodom's problems. And one of Sodom's problems was 143 00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:42,160 that they had political enemies, and they were actually in 144 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,480 rebellion against the king that ruled over that Kingdom, that 145 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:47,760 smaller Kingdom, And they rebelled. 146 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:51,520 And that larger king took four, brought three other kingdoms 147 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:54,840 with them, and they conquered Sodom and five other kingdoms, 148 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:57,040 four other kingdoms. I'm getting the numbers messed 149 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,640 up. It was a lot of kings and a lot 150 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:04,280 of kingdoms, and Lot and his family were taken captive. 151 00:10:05,440 --> 00:10:09,200 Abram, who was not a king, was not a warlord. 152 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,440 He raised his own private army. He got the help of some other 153 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,800 leaders in the area. They went to war against the 154 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,800 four kings that had just defeated 5 kingdoms, and they 155 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:22,400 won. And he not only brought Lot and 156 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:25,360 his family back and all the other people back, but all the 157 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:28,280 money that have been taken to all of the physical wealth. 158 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:34,680 And Abram gave it all away and he said to the king of Sodom, no 159 00:10:34,680 --> 00:10:38,840 one will ever say that you made me rich, God made me rich. 160 00:10:39,360 --> 00:10:41,560 God is my provider. You're not my provider. 161 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:46,480 Take it all. I'm going to give 10% to God. 162 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:52,320 You can have all the rest back. A tremendous act of faith. 163 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:55,120 And once again God reaffirmed the promise. 164 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:57,520 You'll have a descendant. Your descendants will be as 165 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,960 numerous as the as the stars above, as the dust below. 166 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:07,680 All of this land will be yours. But now it's been years since 167 00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:12,560 God first made that promise, and the darkness is starting to 168 00:11:12,560 --> 00:11:18,680 close in, and the doubt is starting to creep in. 169 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:26,320 And what seemed so clear in the noonday sun of Haran now seems 170 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,680 like maybe. Maybe he was just imagining 171 00:11:30,680 --> 00:11:36,400 things, because now he and Sarah are very old and they still 172 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:39,040 don't have a kid. They don't even have a daughter, 173 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:44,000 much less a son who will be their heir. 174 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:51,720 And God says to Abraham, one more time, you can trust me. 175 00:11:52,440 --> 00:11:56,160 I can and I will keep my promises to you. 176 00:12:01,560 --> 00:12:07,320 Don't be afraid of the dark. Easy words to say and easy to 177 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:12,360 believe in the noonday sun. Harder when the darkness closes 178 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:16,040 in, but on a grand scale. This is what God says to us all 179 00:12:16,560 --> 00:12:20,080 through Abram and Sarai and our fathers and mothers of faith 180 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:22,440 throughout the Scripture and church history. 181 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:26,840 A promise most grandly and eloquently and potently 182 00:12:26,840 --> 00:12:30,200 fulfilled in Jesus himself, his life, his death, and his 183 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:34,280 resurrection. Jesus is the light of the world, 184 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:39,920 that light which shines in the darkness and which the darkness 185 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:44,840 has not overcome. And yet we, even as we truly 186 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:49,400 profess and genuinely believe in Jesus, often don't comprehend 187 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:53,240 this light and we struggle to live this life of faith. 188 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:55,720 As we walk through the darkness of this world. 189 00:12:56,120 --> 00:13:02,040 Not always, not always, but sometimes the way of faith seems 190 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,520 as bright and clear as a well worn path through a sunlit 191 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,160 woods. But at other times that path 192 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:12,880 disappears in the weeds, the fog and the night, and we find 193 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,880 ourselves in the darkness wondering which way to turn, 194 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:19,600 where to go, which light in the distance is the light of God, 195 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:24,160 and which is the light of deceptive flickerings or false 196 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:28,960 hopes and deceptions. Now I have over the years 197 00:13:28,960 --> 00:13:34,000 encountered some in the churches, some people who have 198 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:38,480 never experienced the dark night of the soul, who seem always to 199 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,720 live in the noonday sun, who seem never to have been given a 200 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:44,680 reason to doubt, who are completely firm in their 201 00:13:44,680 --> 00:13:46,760 confidence, direction, and faith. 202 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:51,720 If you are such a one, God bless you and thank God for the 203 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:57,360 blessing that you have received. But please do not chide, sneer 204 00:13:57,360 --> 00:14:01,760 at, or judge as faithless those who seek to follow Jesus in the 205 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:05,120 darkness. As a friend of mine used to say, 206 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:09,400 just because you've graduated, don't burn down the school. 207 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:16,520 Those who walk in the darkness are prone to fears, anxieties, 208 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:22,120 worries and doubts. Doubts at first whether we're 209 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:26,200 still following God in his way, and then whether there really is 210 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,800 a God and a way and a true light. 211 00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:34,600 They feel like all of this darkness is the result of sin. 212 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,960 They feel the repudiation of faith. 213 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:44,480 They feel the abandonment or faithlessness of God. 214 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:49,440 There are many who live in such darkness. 215 00:14:49,720 --> 00:14:52,600 And some folks who live in that kind of darkness live in that 216 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,600 darkness, having been LED there out of faith, LED there by God, 217 00:14:57,120 --> 00:14:59,720 out of the light. But there are others who live in 218 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:02,480 that kind of darkness that have never seen the light or never 219 00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:08,000 recognize the light. And their their power and their 220 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:13,240 presence is painfully made known to us at times. 221 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,920 The shooter in Minneapolis, I think, is one of those. 222 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:22,600 An awful thing. What an abominable thing. 223 00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:27,240 To kill another human being in cold blood is horrible. 224 00:15:28,920 --> 00:15:34,240 To kill children is abominable. And we try to make sense of 225 00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:36,200 these things. And one of the ways that we make 226 00:15:36,200 --> 00:15:39,080 sense of these things is, is we look for for at least some 227 00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:43,120 rationale, even if we disagree with the rationale, to know what 228 00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,320 motivated the person, the ideology that drove them to 229 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:49,840 believe that doing this thing was the right somehow the right 230 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,240 thing to do. But here, in this instance, 231 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:59,560 there is no ideology. As best we can tell, the shooter 232 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:03,800 was acting simply to see the world burn. 233 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:10,600 No ideological agenda, no political objective, no message 234 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:14,360 to send. This appears to be someone who 235 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,400 just looked at the world and their life and said it's all 236 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:22,840 meaningless. It's all pointless, so why not 237 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:26,880 kill a bunch of children before killing myself? 238 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:34,080 Well, none of it matters anyway. That is a philosophy in and of 239 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:36,040 itself. You might have heard the name of 240 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,160 that philosophy before, or maybe not. 241 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:41,040 It's a philosophy called nihilism. 242 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:43,560 Some people pronounce it nihilism. 243 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,160 It's the same word. It's the same thing, just 244 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:51,320 different pronunciation. And at the core of nihilism is 245 00:16:51,320 --> 00:16:54,920 the belief that there is no meaning, there is no purpose. 246 00:16:55,000 --> 00:17:01,400 We are not going anywhere as individuals, as a race, as a 247 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:07,640 species, as a universe. We're here by accident and it's 248 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:09,920 all going to come to a fiery end one day. 249 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:14,040 And the only thing that really matters at all is power. 250 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:20,160 The power to crush others, or the power others have to crush 251 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:25,280 you. And whether you know it or not, 252 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,680 the studies and the surveys and the research show that nihilism 253 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:36,240 is on a very dramatic upswing as a philosophy of choice for many. 254 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:42,960 But dark nights, whether we enter them having seen the light 255 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,760 or never having seen the light, dark nights need not end. 256 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,320 And mindless, meaningless death and destruction. 257 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:58,480 Because dark nights, Dark Knights are God's good gift to 258 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:02,920 us. The slow and painful stripping 259 00:18:02,920 --> 00:18:07,400 away of our reliance on all that is not God. 260 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:13,760 That feeling that you get or used to get when you prayed, 261 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,880 that feeling isn't God. That feeling you got when you 262 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:20,880 worshiped? That feeling isn't God. 263 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:24,880 That feeling you got of closeness to God in connection 264 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:27,440 with God when you're with family and friends, that feeling is not 265 00:18:27,440 --> 00:18:30,360 God. That feeling you get of of 266 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:34,320 divine insight and supernatural presence as you read the Bible, 267 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:43,000 that feeling is not God. And if we live searching and 268 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:48,680 pursuing and chasing that feeling, we will inevitably end 269 00:18:48,680 --> 00:18:55,480 up very far from God. So God leads us into the night 270 00:18:56,800 --> 00:19:04,720 and strips away the feeling and all the senses, internal and 271 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:09,200 external, that we depend upon other than God. 272 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:16,840 When we walk in this kind of dark night of the soul, the best 273 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:22,200 thing that we can do, sometimes the only thing that we can do, 274 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:28,000 and sometimes we can't even do this, but the best we can hope 275 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:33,280 to do is to remember the light, the light that we used to see. 276 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:38,120 Remember and choose to believe that it was real and not 277 00:19:38,120 --> 00:19:41,480 imagined. Amy and I have a friend. 278 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:45,320 She was really as much or more a mentor than anything else to us 279 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:49,960 years ago. Her name's Kimberly Butler and 280 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:55,560 she shared her wisdom and insight and understanding and 281 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:59,440 experience and and things like, you know, marriage, 282 00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:04,800 relationship, spiritual growth, spiritual struggles that we face 283 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,440 in this world. And that's my phone on and 284 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:10,440 dinging. Oh my goodness, I made it three 285 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:12,360 services without muting my phone. 286 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:16,560 That is embarrassing. Now it is muted. 287 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,760 And we, we spent a significant amount of time with her one 288 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:26,480 time. And, and it was one of those 289 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:28,520 mountaintop experiences. You ever had a mountaintop 290 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:33,840 experience that that, that time and experience and event, a 291 00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:36,880 thing, a connection, a relationship, a place, whatever 292 00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:39,480 it was where you felt it just can't get any better than this. 293 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:44,480 God is so clear and so wonderful and life is so good and there's 294 00:20:44,480 --> 00:20:47,560 so much joy and there's so much purpose and there's so much 295 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:50,800 meaning, and it all seems so real and it all seems so clear. 296 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:54,400 Like Peter and James and John on that mountain when Jesus started 297 00:20:54,400 --> 00:21:00,960 glowing and Moses and Elijah showed up and they're like, Oh 298 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:07,960 my goodness, how could we ever doubt after this, a mountaintop 299 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,040 experience? And Kimberly said to me as we 300 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:16,840 were finishing up that she said, there's going to come a time 301 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:22,200 when you're going to be tempted to believe you just imagined all 302 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:26,640 of this. Not the events themselves, but 303 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,520 this that you're experiencing in your spirit right now, that you 304 00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:32,320 just imagined it, that it wasn't real. 305 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:41,200 When that happens, before that happens, choose now to believe 306 00:21:41,760 --> 00:21:45,400 that it is real. It is real. 307 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:51,080 I smiled and nodded. It like, yeah, there's nothing's 308 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:55,240 ever going to shake this. It was such a good day, such a 309 00:21:55,240 --> 00:22:01,800 good day. And then the darkness came and 310 00:22:01,800 --> 00:22:07,000 the feeling left, and I began to wonder, Was it real? 311 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:13,160 I mean really real? Or did I just imagine it? 312 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:21,640 Did I just imagine it? Part of the problem with walking 313 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:23,840 in the darkness is that we stumble and we fall. 314 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:29,920 Abram and Sarai stumbled and fell in some awful ways in fear, 315 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,960 no longer feeling the truth of God, no longer feeling the 316 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,840 presence of God, no longer feeling the power, no longer 317 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:38,560 feeling the trustworthiness of God. 318 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,560 They started making decisions to try to fix things and correct 319 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:44,200 things and make it happen and work it out on their own, 320 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:47,440 because how could they really believe that in their age and 321 00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:50,240 that state of life they were ever really going to have a 322 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:52,080 baby? They needed to work something 323 00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,360 else out, and they did some awful stuff. 324 00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:02,480 They made bad decisions and did bad things in the name of hope 325 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:06,520 and of faith. We'll do the same thing. 326 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,840 We'll make bad decisions in the name of hope and faith. 327 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:15,840 We'll hurt others like Abram and Sarah hurt others in the name of 328 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:20,960 God and by the grace of God. By the grace of God, we will 329 00:23:20,960 --> 00:23:24,800 become aware of those bad decisions and just how bad they 330 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,480 are. And we'll become aware of how we 331 00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:31,040 have hurt others and just how much pain we've caused not just 332 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:39,720 then, but long before as well. And that pain and that hurt and 333 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:44,440 those bad decisions will seem so real and so much more real than 334 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:50,480 God ever did. And they will cause us to sink 335 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,880 into deeper darkness. And shame will wrap its cloak 336 00:23:53,880 --> 00:23:58,400 and blinders around us until all that seems to exist is darkness 337 00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:02,440 and despair. And we will wonder even if there 338 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:10,000 is a God who is good, and if such a good God exists, how 339 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:13,320 could a good God love a Wretch such as me? 340 00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:20,800 But it is in the deepest darkness that God will whisper 341 00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:24,680 into our darkness. This is why I died. 342 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,480 This is why the cross is necessary. 343 00:24:30,880 --> 00:24:39,280 You too need my grace. You have no hope without it, no 344 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:43,120 hope without me. All of your goodness, all of 345 00:24:43,120 --> 00:24:46,680 your deeds, all of your works, all of your plans, all of your 346 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:50,680 intentions, all of your efforts. We're only paving the road to 347 00:24:50,680 --> 00:25:02,760 your hell. But for God, a light such as 348 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:08,240 this is so faint and so ethereal that it is easily missed. 349 00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:13,240 A light such as this is easily drowned out and out, shone by 350 00:25:13,240 --> 00:25:17,400 the dazzling lights of self help, church work, praise, glory 351 00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:19,600 and admiration of the world and the church. 352 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:25,720 So many dazzling lights that the real hope and light of God and 353 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:30,400 Jesus often cannot be seen except in the darkness. 354 00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:37,280 So I'll give you the comfort that God gave Abram the wisdom 355 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,560 and truth and advice that God gave to Abram and Sarai as the 356 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:43,760 darkness was closing in around them. 357 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:49,760 Wisdom, truth, and advice that are absolutely true, absolutely 358 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:54,840 right, absolutely necessary, and almost absolutely futile. 359 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:01,080 Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of the dark. 360 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,680 God is Lord over the darkness as well as the light. 361 00:26:07,560 --> 00:26:11,320 God is Lord over the chaos as well as the order. 362 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,960 God is Lord over confusion as well as clarity. 363 00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:19,160 God is Lord over fear and anxiety as well as peace. 364 00:26:20,120 --> 00:26:24,240 And though we are unfaithful, especially in the dark, God is 365 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:26,680 faithful. And though we, like Peter and 366 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,880 Judas, are unable to keep our promises, God always keeps His 367 00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:35,960 promises. So may we not despair like 368 00:26:35,960 --> 00:26:42,800 Judas, but instead repent like Peter, turning and returning to 369 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:46,240 the light, acknowledging our weakness and failures, 370 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,680 acknowledging the harm that we have done ourselves and others, 371 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:55,600 individually or collectively. And let us dispense with our 372 00:26:55,600 --> 00:27:02,160 pride and acknowledge that the very best we can ever really 373 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:10,640 hope to do is to love Jesus and let us humble ourselves and hear 374 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:18,520 from Him what he spoke to Peter. If you love me, then feed, tend, 375 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:22,440 and care for my lambs all around you in this world. 376 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:29,040 If we take up that task as our mission of faith and love, we 377 00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:31,640 can know this. That the work that we have been 378 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:36,200 given to do in faith has not been given to us because we've 379 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:39,280 earned the job. Not because our resume is 380 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,520 spotless. Not because we did such a 381 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,000 stellar performance in our last position. 382 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:48,120 We're given that work because God in His wisdom and mercy 383 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:53,640 knows that we need that work, that if we are not working in 384 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,640 His Kingdom by His grace, we will find ourselves rotting in 385 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,640 hell by our own efforts, decisions, and righteousness. 386 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:07,160 Sometimes we'll be working in the light, other times we'll be 387 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:12,000 working in the dark. But when the darkness falls, May 388 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:17,360 God help us remember the light in Jesus name, Amen. 389 00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:19,000 Amen.